Monday, March 24, 2014

Novak and Lamoreaux on "the real history of corporate rights in American constitutional thought"

If you've been following the Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby case currently before the Supreme Court, or if you're interested in "the real history of corporate rights in American constitutional thought," head over to Slate: Naomi Lamoreaux (Yale University) and William Novak (University of Michigan) have written a short piece titled "Getting the History Right," which pulls from an amicus brief that they submitted in the case. Here's a taste:

With so much at stake in the current debate over corporate rights, we
should not be surprised to find enterprising advocates rewriting history
to create a useable past. But we should demand more rigorous thinking
from the court. The court itself, and especially Justices Antonin Scalia
and Clarence Thomas, have been telling us for decades that American
history deserves significant deference. So it seems reasonable that
before altering the balance of power between corporations and the
American people, the court should carefully consider recent scholarship
in history.

Read on here. And stay tuned for more: Lamoreaux and Novak are working on a longer
term research initiative with the Tobin Project on the
Corporation and American Democracy.